SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris testified Thursday that he didn’t strike any agreement with Gov. Rod Blagojevich to win the plum position and said he’s never been involved in an improper deal in his two decades in government.

His testimony under oath was one of the key requirements Senate Democrats set out for Burris as a condition to accept his appointment. They initially had balked at any choice by the scandal-clouded Blagojevich.

“I can before this committee state that there was nothing . . . legal, personal or political exchanged for my appointment to this seat,” Burris told an Illinois House committee investigating whether to impeach the governor.

But Burris declined to answer questions about whether he would have gone to federal authorities if he’d been offered such a deal. He also declined to say whether Blagojevich should resign or be impeached, saying he has no control over those issues.

More in News

With his choice of restaurant executive Andrew Puzder to serve as his Labor secretary, President-elect Donald Trump has now tapped six big donors and fundraisers to serve in his administration, lining up an unprecedented concentration of wealthy backers for top posts.

Last month, Denver’s Department of Safety fired a deputy sheriff for using racial slurs and harassing inmates and a police sergeant for drinking while in uniform and abandoning a post to have sex with a woman.